Empowering caregivers worldwide
Source By: Pamela Dixon, Director of Clinical Services and Inclusion, Autism Speaks November 26, 2024
Last month, I had the privilege of traveling to the country of Georgia as part of the Professional Fellows Program. This unique fellowship fosters cross-cultural exchange, providing an opportunity to share knowledge and learn from the dedicated professionals and families supporting autistic people in Georgia.
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Researchers are finding that the trillions of beneficial bacteria residing in your gut – aka your gut microbiome – are integral to your well-being. Your gut microbiome plays an important role in strengthening your immune system and helping to regulate important daily bodily functions, including hunger signals and mood fluctuations.

People need to recognize that motivation goes up and down over time – it’s a motivation wave,” says BJ Fogg, a behavior change expert at Stanford Lifestyle Medicine and author of the book “Tiny Habits. The Small Changes That Change Everything.” “Something you’re motivated to do at the beginning of the year, you may not be motivated to do at the end of January.

On any given day, millions of people in the U.S. are trying to lose weight. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that a little over 40% of adults in the U.S. have obesity. And a new report in the Lancet shows a stunning rise in obesity since 1990 among all ages and finds that 3 in 4 adults aged 25 and older in the U.S. are overweight or obese. Having obesity or being overweight can increase the risk of many chronic diseases and health issues, including joint problems, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.

People’s perceptions about their food experiences are valuable because they are related to their quality of life: Individuals who feel positively about these different aspects of the food they recently ate not only are more likely to have higher levels of wellbeing but also tend to feel more socially connected or attached to their community.